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It’s the age of social media. The chances are high your business is on at least one social media site. You are probably always looking for ways to gain and engage your followers. All of the social networks are aware of how businesses are trying to gain attention and are giving business owners the opportunity to advertise on their platforms. Facebook, in particular, has taken the lead in bringing targeted advertising opportunities to small businesses.

Facebook has made the process of buying ad space relatively easy and affordable. Although the types of advertising opportunities differ, the way you select your target audience and how you want to purchase the space remains the same.

For the last 20 years, local businesses have been presented with Readers Choice Awards by Wicked Local on behalf of their customers. In Belmont, Massachusetts, Belmont Savings Bank has won the award for Best Community Bank thirteen times. Bob Mahoney, the President and CEO of Belmont Savings Bank, says his organization is flattered by the award and promises to work hard to continue to earn the trust of their community and customers.

For the last 20 years, Wicked Local has been recognizing successful local businesses through its Readers Choice Awards. During this time, thousands of readers have been voting for their favorite community businesses, services, and activities. To celebrate the last 20 years, here’s a video that looks at just a fraction of the Readers Choice Award winners.

Earlier this week, Radiance Skin Care in Chelmsford sent us a picture of their Readers Choice awards for the last four years! Congratulations to this great local day spa for winning honorable mention consecutively for the last four years. What a testament to their success as a small business and the service they provide their customers. Will they pick up a fifth straight Readers Choice Award? Find out in a few weeks.

For the last 20 years, Wicked Local has been recognizing successful local businesses through its Readers Choice Awards. The award, as voted on by the fans, is the answer to your question, “Am I doing everything right?” If you’ve won the award, clearly, you are. Your community respects and appreciates your business and has said thank you with this award.

Now it’s your turn to thank them. Turn to Facebook to help spread the news that you’re a winner, AND to reward your customers for voting for your business. Your Facebook page is the best place to share your message quickly and with the most people possible.

A small business can’t advertise everywhere. Business owners create a marketing strategy around the type of customers they want to attract. That’s why you see certain ads in newspapers, magazines and on television. Advertisers want to make sure their information is getting in front of the proper audience. They look at their customer’s demographics to determine what message should be shared and where.

The same philosophy goes into posting messages on social media. Yes, you could post a message on every social media site, but that’s only useful if you have enough time and resources. Many business managers don’t have that luxury. Fortunately, just like advertising in traditional media, there are demographics that help you prepare and manage your social media campaigns.

Learning the Lingo is a series of posts that will investigate marketing terms, ideas and strategies. Our topic today: hashtags.

Social media and internet culture has changed the way we communicate with each other. It started by users creating electronic shorthand to help speed conversations along. Acronyms like “LOL” (laughing out loud) have become so common they are in the dictionary. Internet memes have helped internet communities describe a mood through pictures. This new language also includes a way to categorize social conversations. It’s called a hashtag, but you may know it as “#.”

Wicked Local’s Readers Choice Awards are officially back! During the month of June, we're going to honor some of the past winners and show their award certificates. Today's selection is Linguine’s Italian Eatery in Marlborough, Massachusetts. This Italian restaurant received an honorable mention award back in 1999, and is the oldest picture of an award we have so far.

For the last twenty years, Wicked Local has asked consumers to vote for their favorite local businesses in its’ annual Readers Choice poll. This year, we had 450,000 votes cast for all sorts of businesses, from restaurants to hair salons. The results of the 2015 Readers Choice Awards will be released later this month, but we wanted to start preparing businesses for a very busy summer.

Saying that promotion is the key to the success of every business isn’t exactly breaking news. But, the way small business owners have to promote their business is changing. There are still many opportunities for business owners using traditional advertising methods. Introducing your company to new customers through print and digital media is very important. But how do you communicate with customers you already have?

Those loyal followers know who you are and the products you sell. They don’t need an introduction, they want a conversation. Social media offers you the opportunity to promote your brand to customers that are already engaged and aware of your business. Not to communicate just as a business, but as a trusted source for products, information and services. These consumers expect your voice to speak with them instead of speaking at them.

Here are five tips on how to use social media to promote your business.